Swaps – Photographs from the David Hurn collections runs from 30 September 2017 to 11 March 2018 at the National Museum Cardiff

All you’ve got is a box with a hole at the front. That’s what we’ve all got and that’s all we’ve ever had since photography was invented.

“All that happens is the image of life out there goes whizzing through that lens and goes bang onto some material or other and you get a trace of that life on the back of the box. And you’ve got once chance at it, unlike painting or writing you can’t go back and edit, in photography the moment’s gone and will never happen again.

“So, all we have is this box with a hole in the front. So how come if there was a sheep dog trial for instance and Cartier-Bresson, McCullin and Bruce Davidson were there, they are all photographing exactly the same thing but if you showed me 10 pictures from that event I would be able to tell you who had taken what picture?

“It’s the signature of someone which can’t be contrived; it’s the purest thing to their real personality, the world seen through their eyes. The pictures are stamped with the unique style of the individual who shot them.

“But what is necessary for the authorship to come through is an impeccable command of the technical side. The best photographers might say ‘Oh, the technical side is unimportant’. Well, the technical side is staggeringly important but it has got to the point with them that they don’t have to think about it. That only comes through hard work and incessant practice.

“I always stress this point… you’re not a photographer because you are interested in photography.

“The picture is out there, you don’t make the picture, you just have a good visual eye and press the button at the right time. For that you must have an intense curiosity and tenacity, not just a passing visual interest, in the theme of the pictures. This curiosity leads to intense examination, reading, talking, research and many, many failed attempts.

“The idea that there’s no future in taking pictures is nonsensical. If you go to Smiths in Paddington station there’s 3,000 magazines for sale and they’ve all got pictures in them, they’re on websites.

“Everybody’s floundering a little bit as to how to make any money from it but those sorts of problems will be solved, clever people will find ways. Pictures are going to be needed there and the skills are still going to be the same.”

It is a measure of the force of the medium of photography that a picture that probably took a 60th of a second to shoot continues to fuel the life of another man 62 years on.

This is a very interesting article about people who thought they could photograph thoughts. Whatever you think, and I, the images with the old hand writing are beautiful. It is artistic. Perhaps even art…?

People do read, everywhere in the world. Notice that none of the persons in these images are reading on a phone or a computer. I like that, and I like reading. I´d rather read the book instead of seeing a movie from the book. Then I am doing the interpretations and I am setting the cast. My imagination is working for me.

A new book brings together Steve McCurry’s photos of readers, spanning 30 countries. From a steelworks in Serbia to a classroom in Kashmir, they reveal the power of the printed word.

Without the word, without the writing of books, there is no history, there is no concept of humanity.

Back in 1930, Hesse argued that “We need not fear a future elimination of the book. On the contrary, the more that certain needs for entertainment and education are satisfied through other inventions, the more the book will win back in dignity and authority. For even the most childish intoxication with progress will soon be forced to recognise that writing and books have a function that is eternal.”

Many years ago I was given a book with the mentioned André Kertész reading images, and that book is still one of my favorites. Thank you Bruno!

This is something totally different from what I have written about here on my blog earlier.

Our son ( sun 😊 ) has dyslexia. A teacher noted that he had some problems reading and writing and he made tests for it. This was many years ago now. The tests confirmed that he had dyslexia. Good, the challenge was confirmed. He got all the different data programs the school had to help him, but he never liked to use them. He struggled on but he just wanted to be like the others that didn´t have dyslexia. It was possible for him to have more time for his examinations, and to go to a special room and sit together with others with the same challenge. That he used. As much as possible we try to help. Sometimes we read and record texts that he has to work on so he can listen instead of reading. I remember that he has never had any trouble making himself understood and he has always been the wordbook in his classes. Always good at words and their meanings. Good to express himself and to argue. I came to think of all this when I found this article by Benjamin Zephaniah.

My wife and I have never considered this a problem. We have always called it a challenge, and a challenge it is. But as it is so well written in the article there are ways to come around it and people with dyslexia always come up with solutions. Now our son studies in another country but there are ways to help through the internet. A friend of ours remembered that at the time their daughter studied abroad it did cost a fortune to make a phone call. Now it doesn´t and we are very happy about that.

He will not be a architect, but I am sure that he will find his way in life.

Writing this I had my own difficulties of finding the words, spelling right and pull it all together.